


Prediction of Unlocked Chapter 2

by TheDarkChocolateLord



Series: Keeptober 2020 [9]
Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Book 8.5: Unlocked, Canon Compliant (for now), Gen, SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 1 OF UNLOCKED, this will probably end up being wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:35:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27329635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDarkChocolateLord/pseuds/TheDarkChocolateLord
Summary: This is my prediction for what chapter 2 of Unlocked will be like. It'll probably end up being very wrong, but who knows?Written for Keeptober 2020 for the prompt "Unlocked".
Relationships: Sophie Foster & Councillor Oralie
Series: Keeptober 2020 [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1973125
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	Prediction of Unlocked Chapter 2

"We need to look in Kenric's cache," Oralie explained. "He said in the memory that he was counting down the days until the memory was erased from his mind, so it must have been placed in his cache, especially since it seemed to be quite important. And we still have—What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Sophie muttered, hoping that Oralie wasn't reading her emotions right now. 

Of course Kenric's cache would be this crucial to realizing what they were up against.

And of  _ course  _ Keefe had stolen it when he was pretending to be a Neverseen member, and when he tried to steal it back he ended up with a fake. Now she was going to have to explain this crazy mess and they might not even have a way to wake Keefe up—

"Sophie, I promise, it's not as bad as you think it is," Oralie assured her. "You're feeling incredibly stressed and scared—"

"Stop reading my emotions," Sophie cut her off, shifting another foot away from Oralie.  _ Why  _ could Empaths read her emotions without physical contact? "And it  _ is  _ as bad as I think it is. Keefe stole Kenric's cache from me when he was playing double agent to get the Neverseen to trust him, and he tried to get it  _ back  _ but both Fintan's and Kenric's caches ended up being fake, so now we've got a stupid fake cache that we can't do anything with, and we'll never find out what stellarlune is or how to wake Keefe up. He could be stuck like that  _ forever _ !"

She braced herself for a lecture.

Instead, Oralie told her, "It's okay. Take a deep breath, calm down, and I'll show you how this is going to work when we're both ready."

"Wait, aren't you going to yell at me?" Sophie blurted out. 

"That would be counterproductive."

"But I lost the cache—"

"Trust me on this one."

_ Trust me?  _ "Kind of hard when you've been lying to me for—"

"I'm sorry," Oralie cut her off. "When you found out I was your biological mother, I lied to you and I overreacted. And I'm sorry."

Sophie didn't know what to say.

"I still lost Kenric's cache, though," she pointed out, trying to get their conversation back on track. "So how are we going to get it back?"

"We aren't." Oralie stretched out her arm and snapped her fingers.

A tiny marble with seven inner crystals appeared in her hand.

"Kenric's cache?" Sophie wondered. 

She took a closer look at the crystals. Bright green, pale green, indigo, purple, blue-gray, dark red, pale pink—yes, that  _ was  _ Kenric's cache.

But the Neverseen had Kenric's cache, right?

"Did Mr. Forkle give you back the fake or something?" she wondered.

"It's not a fake," Oralie explained. "I gave  _ you  _ a fake back when you and your friends went to join the Black Swan. There was no reason for you to open it; you just needed a bargaining chip to use against the Council, so it didn't have to be the real thing. But I needed you to believe it was real, so that you and everyone around you would give it the same protection you'd give the real cache. This way, others, such as the Council and the Neverseen, would believe it was real and still hold it in the same high regard. And I was able to keep the real thing safe in case we ever needed it."

Sophie didn't know whether to get mad that Oralie lied to her or call her a genius. 

"That's….I seriously embarrassed myself for nothing?"

"It wasn't nothing. I'm glad to know what happened with the fakes."

Like that made her feel better. "Does the Council know that you have the real one?"

"No. It's easier to let them believe it's under the Black Swan's control."

"So while we were losing our minds about the Neverseen having the cache, the Councillors were losing their minds about us having the cache, and the Neverseen were probably losing their minds about not being able to open the cache, you had the real thing all along and were just watching the chaos unfold. Probably with snacks."

Oralie laughed. "I deny the snacks, though I suppose that is one way of putting it. But I'm afraid that we've gotten sidetracked. Are you ready to open Kenric's cache?"

Sophie yanked out an eyelash, trying to ignore the part of her that was screaming  _ This is a terrible idea, only Kenric can open his cache and what if there are all sorts of crazy defense mechanisms?  _ "I have to be."

"That's not a yes."

"I'm ready. Are you?" 

Oralie didn't respond.

"Elysian," she whispered.

The cache whirled around in her fingertips, letting out a swirl of gleaming white smoke that separated into three projections.

Oralie.

Kenric.

And….

Was that  _ Fintan? _


End file.
